Article Alert - The Best of America's Journals

Why Banking Crises Happen. Hans-Werner Sinn. The International Economy. Summer 2008, pp.60-61. After the 1982 debt crisis, the savings and loan crisis in the United States in the late 1980s, and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the subprime mortgage crisis is the fourth major banking crisis since World War II, and by far the biggest. The International Monetary Fund, the G7, or a joint U.S.-European body could be the right forum for determining new rules for financial markets aimed at enhancing the efficiency and stability of the world economy. READ MORE

Worse Than It Seems. Dean Starkman. Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 2008. pp. 21-23. Drilling down to the rotten foundation of the economic crisis with the economy apparently already in recession, gas prices near record levels, food prices rising, and inflation generally gaining momentum, economic issues are moving to the center of the presidential campaign. Political reporters have been forced to learn the financial crisis on the fly, while business reporters have had to learn to speak to an ever-growing audience. The boom in subprime mortgages only really happened in the last few years, when people were allowed to borrow a lot of money, often based on adjustable mortgage rates that go up when other interest rates go up, and on top of that, they pay very high prices, so the value of their home is down. READ MORE

The Oil-Dollar Link. Philip K Verleger Jr. The International Economy, Spring 2008. pp. 46-50. The relationship between the dollar's exchange rate and oil prices has been debated now for decades. Oil-exporting countries justified their first round of price hikes to $10 per barrel in late 1973 by blaming global inflation and the falling dollar. Oilexporting countries again blamed the weakening dollar for the second major round of price increases in 1978. Eight years later, the dollar's resurging value was cited as a cause of the 1986 price decline. More recently, oil prices and the dollar's exchange rate have seemed to move as one. READ MORE

Facing a Post-American World. Fareed Zakaria. New Perspectives Quarterly, July 2008, pp, 7 - 12. American-led globalization has enabled the third great powershift of the last five hundred years—the "rise of the rest" following on the rise of the West and then the rise of the US as the dominant power in the West. When China, India, Brazil, Turkey and the rest sit at the table of global power with the West what will the world order look like? Will it be post-American? Will it be culturally non-Western, but play by the same rules of an open international order laid down by the American's after World War II? READ MORE

America and the World. Bruce Stokes; Shada Islam; Klaus Naumann. Yale Global, September 2008. n.p. The US and Europe – firm allies throughout the 20th century – now differ on many issues, global security in particular. This YaleGlobal series analyzes the European-American relationship and points to areas of fracture. US candidates for president can’t please world opinion - No longer a solid ally for the US, Europe is split on dealing with resurgent Russia - Though in troubled waters, the US-European alliance remains indispensable

STRATEGIC COLLABORATION: HOW THE UNITED STATES CAN THRIVE AS OTHER POWERS RISE. Nina Hachigian and Mona Sutphen, The Washington Quarterly, Autumn 2008, pp. 43–57. "The United States is about to enter its first presidential transition since the September 11 attacks. In January 2009, President-elect John McCain or Barack Obama will face a radically different world than the one that George W. Bush inherited. Beyond the instability in the Middle East, several large, assertive powers—-China, India, and Russia—-have reemerged on the world stage. Two others, the European Union and Japan, remain strong and are going through their own transitions. This strategic environment is unlike any the United States has ever encountered. This new landscape poses risks but also offers opportunities for the United States if it takes advantage of the moment." READ MORE

America and the EU

Russia and the EU: Strategic Partners or Strategic Rivals? Margot Light. JCMS, 2008, Annual Review pp. 7–27. Well before 2007, some Russian analysts had diagnosed ‘a systemic crisis’ in the Russian–European Union (EU) relationship. To some western observers, by 2007 the disputes between Russia and the EU indicated
that relations had reached ‘a critical juncture’, or seemed to be ‘grinding to a halt’. This article argues that, despite the conflicts that divide the EU and Russia, the relationship has neither succumbed to systemic crisis and nor has it ground to a halt. READ MORE

But What Does it Mean for NATO? Robert Farley. The American Prospect Online, August 2008, n.p. The war between Russia and Georgia, on the heels of a NATO refusal to “fast track” Georgia’s application for membership, has reignited the debate over the wisdom of extending NATO to Russia’s borders. Realists on both the right and the left suggest that the war is a predictable reaction to NATO’s intrusion into Russia’s sphere of influence. Neoconservatives and their allies respond that the war could have been avoided if NATO had agreed to include Georgia this year, as the Bush administration desired. READ MORE

Europe Reborn. K. A. Dilday. World Policy Journal, Summer 2008, pp. 75–81. We have arrived in a time where, in the old European states of the European Union, national identities are being fiercely debated. For those citizens who believe in “national character,” these identities seem under dual attack. Increased migration has altered national demographics, bringing in millions of immigrants whose cultural histories differ from that of their new countrymen, while the increasingly potent European Union steadily usurps member states’ duties and functions, claiming a European supra-character. As the EU becomes more powerful and European identity becomes more potent and meaningful, though, will national identity still be relevant? READ MORE

Powers and Foreign Policy

ALIGNING "SOFT" WITH "HARD" POWER. Henrietta Holsman Fore, Parameters, Summer 2008, pp. 14-24. "Last November, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates gave a speech that was described as 'groundbreaking' in the manner in which it addressed the role of development and defense in meeting the national security challenges facing the United States. 'One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win,' Secretary Gates stated: Economic development, institution-building, and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people, training and equipping indigenous military and police forces, strategic communications, and more—these, along with security, are essential ingredients for long-term success. This article will address the importance of collaboration between American development agencies and the US military." READ MORE

BUSH'S STEALTH UNITED NATIONS POLICY. Stephen Schlesinger, World Policy Journal, Summer 2008, pp. 1–9. "A litany of failures and shattered goals has been a hallmark of George W. Bush’s foreign policy in such strategic states as Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia. Yet in the midst of this bleak
landscape, there has been one success for Bush. Looking back on the almost eight
years of his presidency, the one arena where Bush has shown some mastery in international affairs is, counter-intuitively, the most unlikely place on the planet—namely, the United Nations. For good or ill, Bush has attained more victories in that body than in any other forum or country—an intriguing fact, given that from the start of his White House service, Bush has treated the UN as the bête noire of global politics." READ MORE

THE WARS OF JOHN MCCAIN. Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic Monthly, October 2008, var. pages. "John McCain believes the Vietnam War was winnable. Now he argues that an Obama administration would accept defeat in Iraq, with grave costs to American honor and national security. Is McCain’s quest for victory a reflection of an antiquated pre-Vietnam mind-set? Or of a commitment to principles we abandon at our peril? Is there any war McCain thinks can’t be won?" READ MORE

AN AGENDA FOR HUMAN DIGNITY. Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Survival, Aug/Sep 2008, pp. 11–17. "The debate about promoting democracy continues to beat strong, and for good reason. If in the early 1990s democracy seemed triumphant across the
globe as the single most legitimate and effective form of governance, this may no longer be the case. International relations feature today a handful of countries with rising international influence and growing capitalist economic systems, but whose form of government is not democratic. In some, the trappings of democratic form are maintained, while the substance of politics is quite different. These circumstances raise a difficult question: how to continue to support democracy in countries and regions where the notion is challenged and resistance is growing?" READ MORE

THE LEGEND OF A DEMOCRACY PROMOTER. Amy Zegart, The National Interest, Sep/Oct 2008, var. pages. "America’s moral crusade is here to stay. Both John McCain and Barack Obama embrace the freedom agenda. How and why democracy promotion became a permanent fixture of American foreign policy. READ MORE

MADISON AND THE SMART MOB: THE PROMISE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE INTERNET FOR DEMOCRACY. Robert Faris and Bruce Etling, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Summer 2008, pp. 65-85. “'Color revolutions' in countries as disparate as Burma and the Ukraine demonstrate the potential of the Internet and text messaging for disseminating democratic ideals. These new technologies have no doubt revolutionized peer-to-peer relationships, but they remain limited in improving processes among government institutions." READ MORE

A NEW LOOK AT ETHNICITY AND DEMOCRATIZATION. Mark R. Beissinger, Journal of Democracy, July 2008, pp. 85-97. "Conventional scholarly wisdom holds that ethnic diversity within a given society generally dims democracy's prospects. Careful reflection on the experience of many post-Soviet states, however, suggests that this need not be so." READ MORE

CONSERVATIVE INTERNATIONALISM. Henry R. Nau, Policy Review, Aug/Sep 2008, var. pages. "Since world war ii international relations specialists have debated two main traditions or schools of American foreign policy, realism and liberal internationalism. This essay argues instead that Ronald Reagan tapped into a new and different American foreign policy tradition that has been overlooked by scholars and pundits. That tradition is 'conservative internationalism.' Like realism and liberal internationalism, it has deep historical roots." READ MORE

DOES ONE RIGHT MAKE A REALIST? CONSERVATISM, NEOCONSERVATISM, AND ISOLATIONISM IN THE FOREIGN POLICY IDEOLOGY OF AMERICAN POLITICAL ELITES. Brian C. Rathbun, Political Science Quarterly, Summer 2008, pp. 271-299. "American society, it is now frequently stated, is more politically polarized than at any time in recent memory, and a prominent front in the ideological battle between left and right is foreign policy. Most notable is, of course, the war in Iraq, but divisions between Republicans and Democrats over the proper definition of the national interest have been a feature of the post-Cold War era since its inception. (...) Condemnation from both traditional conservatives and isolationists has been as strident and vicious as that of the left. This raises the question of whether there is any common set of fundamentals that defines the right’s foreign policy in the United States, and if not, why these subgroups are considered to be on the same side of the political spectrum." READ MORE

A REALIST RALLY. Leslie H. Gelb, The National Interest, Sep/Oct 2008, var. pages. "Realism can lead the way out of our foreign-policy shambles. But first the camp’s heavyweights need to bridge the partisan divide. The heirs of Truman and Acheson on the left and traditional realists on the right must join forces." READ MORE

CAMPAIGN TRACKER 2008. BARACK OBAMA, JOHN MCCAIN: WHERE DO THE CANDIDATES STAND? National Journal Online Version. Check out on National Journal's special feature and series of stories to learn where the candidates stand on the economy, health care, Iraq and other important issues. The Economy • Health Care • Iraq • Energy • Immigration • Ethics • National Security • Social Issues • Trade • Education

HOW OBAMA REALLY DID IT. David Talbot. Technology Review, October 2008, pp. 78-85. Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign manager and Internet impresario, describes Super Tuesday II -- the March 4 primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island -- as the moment Barack Obama used social technology to decisive effect. The day's largest hoard of delegates would be contested in Texas, where a strong showing would require exceptional discipline and voter-education efforts. Hillary Clinton's camp had about 20,000 volunteers at work in Texas. But in an e-mail, Trippi learned that 104,000 Texans had joined Obama's social-networking site, www.my.barackobama.com, known as MyBO. The viral Internet offered myriad ways to propagate unfiltered Obama messages. The campaign posted the candidate's speeches and linked to multimedia material generated by supporters. If Obama is elected, his Web-oriented campaign strategy could carry over into his presidency. He could encourage his supporters to deluge members of Congress with calls and e-mails, or use the Web to organize collective research on policy questions. READ MORE

THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT ON STAGE. Gener, Randy et al. American Theatre, May/June 2008, pp. 28-41. Israelis and Palestinians view their histories and rights differently. This special series of six articles explores the role that theater has played, or can play, in relieving tensions related to the conflict. READ MORE

PROJECT URBAN RECREATION. Edwards, Michael. Parks & Recreation, March 2008, pp. 39-45. The creation of public parks in close proximity to urban areas is a new trend in urban development. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Spokane, Washington, serve as examples of this trend, which is being spurred by increasing demand for places for outdoor exercise. Cities are opening parks that allow residents to enjoy the outdoors without leaving the city; Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Park is situated along the riverfront, with trails, bridges, green space, water landings, public art, historic artifacts, restaurants, and community events. Spokane is developing the Spokane River Gorge, which has 400 acres of river access, open space located adjacent to downtown, and a wide variety of activities to lure visitors. The author notes that parks like these benefit cities by encouraging growth of urban communities, tourism, future investment and real estate values. READ MORE

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTORS. CAN INVESTORS DO WELL BY DOING GOOD? Thomas J. Billitteri. CQ Researcher, August 29, 2008, pp. 671-695. Socially responsible investing, which combines financial goals with the aim of improving society through stock screening, shareholder activism and other methods, has grown into a multi-trillion-dollar industry. Concerns about climate change, worker rights and other issues are prompting big institutional accounts as well as small investors to put more and more emphasis on social, environmental and corporate-governance factors in weighing investment decisions. But critics say stock-screening methods used by mutual funds are subjective and that socially responsible investments tend not to perform as well as conventional ones. Some of the harshest criticism has been directed at public pension funds using social-investing approaches, such as the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which uses a "double bottom line" approach to investing. READ MORE